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St John Archive, Conservation

The Museum receives an AIM Museum Fundamentals grant

Posted Monday 10th November
Sophie Denman Sophie Denman (Archivist)

The Museum is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant from AIM Museum Fundamentals funded by Pilgrim Trust and The Julia Rausing Trust!

The Museum’s photographic collection includes approximately 25,000 photographic prints which visually document the work, activities, people, and presence of the Order of St John and St John Ambulance, nationally and internationally, from c.1870s to the present day. It is the only photographic collection in existence that comprises a near 150-year detailed visual record of these organisations and their efforts to care for and support humanity.

The grant is for a major 12-month project starting this month, titled ‘First Aid on Camera: Preserving St John Ambulance’s Photographic Collection’. The project will result in the repacking of the entire collection of photographic prints into conservation-grade enclosures and boxes with accompanying box lists. In addition, full catalogue records with accompanying digitised images for a collection of 3,500 photographs which represent the work and activities of St John Ambulance from its inception to the present day will be made publicly accessible on Collections Online, the Museum’s online catalogue, ready for the charity’s 150th anniversary!

This is an incredibly exciting project that will help to protect and preserve the collection physically and intellectually and to uncover some never-before-see photographs, such as the three below, and we cannot wait to share more in the coming weeks!

A black and white photograph of a group of men, women, and children standing and seated for a posed photograph. Sixteen of the men and one woman are in St John Ambulance Brigade uniform, and the remainder are in civilian dress. The group are outside in front of pointed tent, with a sign identifying it as a first aid tent. A boy is reclining in front of the group on a stretcher.
St John Ambulance Brigade members with civilians at a St John Ambulance Brigade first aid tent, c.1890s (Archive ref: A707)

 

A black and white photograph showing three female Cadets kneeling in a row. Two of the Cadets are wearing St John Ambulance Cadet uniform, and the other is in civilian dress. The Cadet in civilian dress is blind, and in front of the three Cadets is her golden retriever guide dog in a harness. The Cadet on the right is holding a framed letter in thanks for raising funds for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.
Nursing Cadets from the CN11 Ealing Nursing Cadet Division with a Cadet member’s guide dog, 1978 (Archive ref PHA5308)
A colour photograph showing a group of 54 men, women, and children, wearing black and white Ghanaian St John Ambulance uniform and standing in rows on steps in front of a church.
Ghanaian Cadets and Cadet Leaders outside a church on St John’s Day, 1992 (Archive ref: PHA6486)

This is an AIM (Association of Independent Museums) Museum Fundamentals project. AIM Museum Fundamentals funded by Pilgrim Trust and The Julia Rausing Trust. 

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